So I got a personal rejection letter today, from C.C. Finlay of F&SF, and he was kind enough to explain what hadn't worked for him about my story. He also said that my writing was very good, and to keep submitting to F&SF. You can imagine how pleased I was to hear that, and I'm excited beca...

(Also, some general tips I've picked up regarding critiques over the years: Critiques are important, but they should always be taken with a grain of salt. What one person believes to be the best way to write your story might not be the same thing you believe to be the best way to write your story. ...

Just a note for anyone else swinging by: Read Aloud doesn't look like it's on the Mac version of Office. That said, you can enable the built-in macOS text-to-speech feature pretty easily. Here are the steps to do that: * Open System Preferences * Go to Accessibility * Select "Speech" from ...

Finalists have not been announced. Check the WotF official website and read under the Blog heading for the official announcement of results. Until then, the only way we know is if little birds tell us, like some member of this Forum chirping that they've been told by Joni it's okay to tell people n...

Do you folks who have been doing this for years still write those stories that you lay an embarrassing amount of hope in? Or do you eventually build up those emotional callouses and remain cool about every submission? I’m currently rewriting my first self-published book (going traditional this time...

I know these challenges are meant to be fun and motivational, but just to spoil that a little, I have a rules question.... Do repeat submissions count? I personally would say yes, but I'm open to hearing thoughts otherwise. Is the challenge more about writing or submitting? This will be my first qu...

This may be very "high level", but I'm wondering if there is any interest in exchanging some basic story ideas. To start, the thing I'd send along is a 300-ish word opening to a story. The goal here would be to showcase world-building while hooking the reader. Basically, it's an intro exch...

All righty... now that 3rd quarter results are trickling in, I can officially say I'm pretty sure I'm getting an R for Q4. It's a weird story, with an equally odd MC, and a plot geared toward humor over the speculative elements.

Yes writing the story for Q1 would be so much more productive (and sane) than practicing guessomancy as to time of release and personal results. *adjusts glasses on tip of nose* Well actually, it's called Rejectomancy . Still the algorhythms dance in my head, stomping out creative intrusions as I c...

Anyone care to speculate what place you'll receive? ...yes, I know some y'all will view this as sick or perhaps cruel.... But let's roll with it. I think I'd normally have an idea of my placement, but this quarter was my first submission of a fantasy piece to this contest. If I had to hazard a gues...

DylCary wrote:Potentially silly question here: does anyone know what number Joni calls finalists/winners on? The closer the end of the month gets the more paranoid I get that if (and that's a big, hopeful if) I get a call I'll miss it!

Here's Dave's latest blog post: https://mystorydoctor.com/how-to-bore-an-editor-to-death/ Happy to say that I don't think I'm guilty of any of these in my Q3. So glad that Dave is alright and recovered from his hospital stay! Best part of that article: I know that at this very moment, there is prob...

Just got Mr. Farland's newsletter over email, and let me say that it seems he is *definitely* in the middle of some WOTF stories. And he has *opinions*. /gulp/ *twitch twitch twitch* Which news letters? I get Joni's emails, but I haven't seen DF's. I think you can sign up here: https://mystorydocto...